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1 


THE 


Chaldean Magician 

\ 

t 

AN ADVENTURE IN ROME 


IN THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN 


^ BY 


ERNST ECKSTEIN 

Author of “ Quintus Claudius,” etc. 


From the German by MARY J. SAFFORD 



NEW YORK 
WILLIAM S. GOTTSBERGER, PUBLISHER 
II MURRAY STREET 
1886 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1886 
BY WiLLIAxM S, GoTTSBERGER 
the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington 


i 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


CHAPTER 1 . 

A CLOUDLESS October day, A. D. 299, 
was drawing to a close ; the western sky 
behind the crest of Mt. Janiculum still 
glowed with crimson light, but the popula- 
tion in the streets and squares of the world s 
capital were already moving in a bluish 
twilight and yellow-red lamps shone, veiled 
by smoke, from the taverns of the many- 
gabled Subura. 

A youth with a white toga thrown over 
his shoulders, coming from the Querquetu- 
lanian Gate, turned into the Cyprian Way. 
His manner of walking was somewhat pe- 
culiar. Sometimes he rushed hastily for- 


2 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


ward, like a man impatiently striving to 
reach his destination ; at others he glanced 
hesitatingly around or stopped a few seconds 
as though repenting his design. Passing 
the Baths of Titus he perceived, only a 
few yards distant, another youth who had 
entered the Cyprian Way from a side street 
on the left and with bowed head was pur- 
suing the same direction over the lava 
stones of the pavement. Looking more 
closely, he recognized a friend’s counte- 
nance in the new-comer’s pallid features. 

It was nearly six weeks since he had 
seen pleasant Lucius Rutilius ; for the two 
young men’s paths in life were entirely dif- 
ferent. While Rutilius, the son of a wealthy 
senator, was fond of moving in the most se- 
lect circles of the capital, visiting the the- 
atres, the races and combats in the arena, 
and during the summer spending his time 
alternately at his country estate in Etruria, 
the waterfalls of Tibur, the shore of the 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


3 


gulf of Baiae, or the strand of Antium, 
Caius Bononius, the son of a knight, led a 
somewhat secluded existence in the solitude 
of his study, allowing himself at the utmost 
a short trip during the hottest months to 
the world-renowned Diana’s Mirror, the 
lovely secluded lake in the neighboring Al- 
ban Hills, where he owned a modest little 
garden. Spite of this diversity in external 
circumstances, the two young men cherished 
a deeply-rooted friendship for each other. 
Lucius Rutilius valued the comprehensive 
knowledge, insatiable thirst for information, 
and proud independence possessed by Caius 
Bononius ; while the latter knew that Ru- 
tilius beheld the splendor of life in the great 
capital, not with the eyes of the coarse man 
of pleasure, but with those of the poet ; that 
he revelled in the pomp of color, the luxury of 
eternal Rome, as the creative artist rejoiced 
in the effects of light and shade in a land- 
scape ; that amid this seething whirlpool 


4 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


he had preserved a warm heart, a noble 
unselfishness of nature. 

At Caius’ call Lucius Rutilius raised 
his head, covered with black, curling locks, 
as though startled from a deep reverie. A 
crimson flush, visible even in the gathering 
twilight, mounted to his brow, as if the 
other had caught him in forbidden paths. 

“Is it you, Bononius?” he stammered. 
“ Are you, too, to be met in the crowd of 
pedestrians? True, it’s lonely enough here 
in the aristocratic Cyprian Way to allow 
you to indulge your taste for seclusion even 
while walking.” 

“ I have really avoided all society during 
the last few weeks,” replied Caius Bononius, 
“strange problems have engrossed my at- 
tention. But you — what brings you, with- 
out any companion, to this quarter of silence 
at this hour of the day? You used at this 
time to be reclining at table — with roses 
from Paestum in your hair and your glowing 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


5 


lips pressed to an exquisitely-polished mur- 
rhine cup, if not on the neck of some radiant 
young beauty.” 

Lucius blushed again. 

“Things are different now,” he replied 
with his eyes bent on the ground. 

“How?” asked Caius Bononius in sur- 
prise. “ Has my Lucius renounced the de- 
lights of the revel and the lustre of flower- 
wreathed triclinia?” 

“ Not entirely — but your remark about 
a young beauty — you needn’t smile, Caius ! 
In perfect truth : during the last month a 
change has taken place in this respect, 
which — how am I to say. . . . ?” 

“ How are you to speak ? As you 
think ! The confusion in your words dis- 
tinctly shows how hard you are trying to 
conceal rather than disclose your thoughts. 
Come, Lucius ! Have you so completely 
forgotten that we did not vow faith and 


6 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


friendship to each other only over the 
golden F'alernian, that our relations have a 
deeper root? If things have occurred that 
influence your character^ your views of the 
world, let me know what has affected you ; 
for as a sincere, though half-superfluous 
friend, I have a right to your implicit con- 
fidence. As I live, you give me the im- 
pression that some important matter is in 
question. Speak, my Lucius ! Have you, 
in contradiction to your whole past, thrown 
yourself into the study of philosophy ? 
Have you come in contact with some saint 
of the sect of the Nazarenes and thus ac- 
quired a taste for the beautiful legends of 
the East ?” 

“ Nothing of the sort,” sighed Lucius, 
taking his friend by the arm and drawing 
him slowly along with him in the direction 
of the Subura. “You will laugh at me when 
you learn how your invincible Epicurean 
has fared at last ... Yes, you are right. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


7 


Caius ; it would be foolish if I wished to 
conceal from you, my faithful friend, what 
your penetration would nevertheless dis- 
cover ... So know — but don’t accuse me 
of weakness — I am desperately in love, not 
only with my eyes, as before, but body and 
soul, a second Troilus, a Leander who 
would breast the surges of every sea to at 
last clasp his Hero in his arms.” 

“You have often talked so,” said Caius 
smiling. 

“ Talked, but never felt. The best 
proof of the genuineness of my emotions — 
to myself — is the ardor with which I long 
to lead the beloved maiden across my thresh- 
old as my wife. You know ‘marriage’ 
used to be a terrible word to me, Caius : 
now, since I have seen Hero — her name is 
really Hero, and she is the daughter of an 
aristocratic Sicilian — since that time I have 
known nothing sweeter than Hymen’s torch, 
and longingly await the moment which. 


8 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


Spite of all difficulties and disasters, must at 
last unite us.” 

Difficulties ?” repeated Bononius, paus- 
ing. “ Does Hero deny her Leander the 
ardently-desired love? Has the handsome 
Rutilius for the first time wooed in vain ?” 

Lucius Rutilius gazed at the western 
sky as if he were examining the position of 
the stars. 

“There is still time,” he murmured, then 
turning to Bononius, added : 

“Wooed in vain? No — yet it is al- 
most the same thing. Does this contradic- 
tion seem to you an enigma? If you wish, 
you shall learn all — only not here, where 
the passers-by are growing more numerous 
and a listener might misuse my words. I 
have business on the northern slope of the 
Quirinal in about an hour — until then let 
us stay in my uncle Publius Calpurnius’ 
house, here on the right of the Patrician 
Way. He is Caius Decius’ guest to-day: 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. ( < 


9 


we can walk up and down the portico un- 
disturbed — and to be frank, I long to pour 
out my heart to you, receive your coun- 
sel." 

Bononius hesitated. He seemed to be 
secretly making a hasty calculation. 

“Well," he said at last, “if it won’t 
occupy too much time ... You won’t take 
it amiss, if I tell you that I, too, in an hour 
at latest ....’’ 

“ Oh — I can explain everything in ten 
minutes.’’ 

Turning to the right, he drew his friend 
along with him, and a short time after they 
knocked at the door of a spacious mansion. 
The porter drew back the bolt, bowed, and 
ushered the two youths through the passage 
into the atrium. 

The residence of Publius Calpurnius 
was one of the huge, luxurious edifices, 
which seemed to vie in extent with the im- 
mense palaces erected by the emperor Dio- 


lO 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


cletian in Salona and Niconiedia. Of no 
unusual external magnificence and with a 
moderate fagade, it developed directly be- 
hind the atrium the most surprising size, 
stretching on the right and left over the 
ground naturally belonging to the neigh- 
boring houses and spreading towards the 
slope of the hill. Caius Bononius, who 
almost intentionally avoided the homes 
of Roman grandees, often as Lucius — 
at least in former days — had endeavored 
to draw his friend into the life and bustle 
of the capital, scanned with surprise and 
curiosity the magnificently-decorated struc- 
ture, the halls of the two court-yards 
where a dozen gaily-clad slaves were 
just lighting the candelabra, the brilliant- 
hued paintings on the walls, the portrait- 
statues — men in somewhat un- Roman 
sleeved garments, and women with ex- 
tremely realistic styles of hair-dressing, 
which looked as if the latest coiffure of a 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


1 1 


fashionable visitor to the circus had served 
the sculptor for a model. 

In fact, Lucius asserted that these styles 
of arranging the hair were removable, and 
could be taken from the statues’ heads and 
exchanged for modern ones as fashion re- 
quired — a triumph of the plastic art, as he 
ironically added. 

So they walked through the second pil- 
lared court-yard to the garden. The dusky 
avenues of trees, whose spreading boughs 
still permitted enough of the fading daylight 
to enter to reveal the box-bordered gravel- 
led paths, invited thoughtful, pleasant strolls, 
and the watchman at the back of the house 
afforded a sufficient guarantee that no in- 
truder would steal after the youths. 


12 


CHAPTER 11. 

“ At the end of last month,” Lucius 
Rutilius began, “ Hero had firmly resolved 
to unite her life with mine. I made her ac- 
quaintance at Tibur, where her father had 
purchased Junius’ Gellius’ villa — it adjoins 
my own, you know — after the death of its 
first owner. Wandering through the park, I 
saw the bewitching girlish figure on the op- 
posite side of the wall that divides Gellius’ 
grounds from mine. Hero was standing in 
the shade of a laurel-bush, her fair hair 
adorned simply with a rose, scattering with 
her dainty little hands crumbs or corn, 
which she held gathered in her robe, to a 
fluttering cloud of sparrows. Concealed 
behind the pedestal of a goddess of autumn, 
I could watch her quietly without having 
my presence suspected. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


15 


“Ah, my dear Caius, I should vainly try 
to describe the subtle charm, childlike inno- 
cence, and enchanting grace revealed to me 
in that quarter of an hour ! How she 
chatted with her proteges, repelled the bold 
and encouraged the timid ones, how she 
jested and laughed, how her loose tunic 
slipped from her snowy shoulder — it was 
bewitching ! In short, those fifteen minutes 
decided my fate. For the first time during 
a life of twenty-six years I experienced at 
the sight of a girl who charmed me a feel- 
ing of sacred reserve, a sort of reverence 
that made any wanton thought seem a 
crime. In my ardent dreams, which in- 
stantly twined with eager longing around 
this lovely apparition, I saw her only as the 
presiding mistress of my house, the ruler of 
my life . . . .” 

“ It really appears to be a serious 
matter,” murmured Caius Bononius. “Does 
the night-breeze rustling through the boughs 


14 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


deceive me, or what is it that makes your 
voice tremble so ?” 

“ Do not doubt !” replied Rutilius. 

What I feel for Hero is sacred enough to 
hll my heart with the emotions that seize 
devout worshippers at the presence of the 
goddess. Now hear the rest. Wholly ab- 
sorbed by one thought, I returned to the 
house and pondered in solitude over the 
problem how I might succeed in reaching 
the desired goal. Usually — as you know — 
I was not embarrassed when in the society 
of beautiful girls and women ; but here the 
often-tested art of crafty plans seemed to 
leave me in the lurch. After twenty ab- 
surdly -tasteless ideas I resolved to ask Aga- 
thon — who also lived at Tibur — to take 
me with him as an uninvited guest to the 
next banquet given by her father, Helio- 
dorus. A pretended desire to talk with him 
about the sale of a small grove would serve 
for an excuse. Agathon cast a strange 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


15 


glance at me when I informed him of my 
wish. Perhaps this sort of introduction was 
not the best, though I thought it so ; for 
you, too, will some day learn, spite of all 
the wisdom that now fills your soul, that love 
makes even the most experienced people 
unskilful.” 

“ On the contrary,” replied Bononius, 
“ I believe great passions render us inven- 
tive.” 

“We won’t argue the point. Inventive 
perhaps in what is decisive, but foolish in 
every other respect. — Agathon consented, 
and on the third day the opportunity offered. 
Heliodorus received me with the manners 
of a polished man of the world, greeting me 
as a neighbor whose acquaintance he had 
long desired to make. As to the grove, 
about which I incoherently stammered a 
few words, he would consider the matter, 
and if he could really oblige me, would 
willingly make a sacrifice. 


l6 THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


“The banquet passed without my even 
obtaining a glimpse of the object of my ar- 
dent longing ; yet I might well be satisfied. 
From this hour the wall between our two 
estates was as it were demolished ; an in- 
tercourse began, which after a short time 
developed into friendly relations, and now 
of course Hero, who had retired from the 
sight of the guests at the noisy drinking- 
bout, was visible at any hour of the day to 
the neighbor who came as it were clad in a 
tunic,* to see her father. 

“ Let me say nothing about how it all 
happened. A hundred details gradually 
wove the certainty that the worthy Sicilian’s 
daughter favored me, and one evening in 
the park, on the very spot under the laurel- 
bush where I had first beheld her, I kissed 
the words of consent from her quivering 
lips. 

“Those were happy days, Bononius! 


* The Romans wore the toga on occasions of ceremony. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


17 


We still kept our love concealed; not that 
we had reason to doubt her father’s con- 
sent, but there was an indescribable charm 
in this mystery ; I might say : we feared to 
profane our happiness, if we should draw 
aside the veil too soon. True, our relations 
did not wholly escape the excellent Helio- 
dorus’ notice. More than once, while wan- 
dering by Hero’s side through the colon- 
nades of the peristyle, I met his sympathiz- 
ing smile, which seemed to say : ‘ Friend, 

I see through you, but am not angered by 
your secret suit.’ 

'‘Then one evening — we had formed 
the resolution the day before to appear on 
the following Friday, October ist, Helio- 
dorus’ birthday, hand in hand before him and 
reveal everything — Hero received me with 
an agitated expression that greatly alarmed 
me. Her father had gone to Rome on 
business and was not expected to return till 
late. Hero had been alone all day with 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


Lydia, a young relative with whom she was 
educated, had refused old Septimia, her 
grey-haired confidante, admission to her 
apartments, neglected to eat, and did not 
dress until the hour I usually came, when 
she waited for me on the stone bench under 
the colonnade of the peristyle. Lydia — a 
charming creature, by the way, only she re- 
minds one a little too much of our highly- 
painted fashionable ladies to compare with 
Hero’s divine simplicity — was sitting be- 
side her when 1 entered. My sweet, sor- 
rowful love was holding a triangular paper 
in her hand ; Lydia, frowning, clenched in 
her dainty fist a parchment covered with red 
letters. After long questioning I learned 
the following details. 

“ The two girls were walking in the 
grounds just after sunrise, as they usually 
did in the morning. Suddenly a hideously- 
ugly old woman, dressed in rags, stood be- 
fore the unsuspecting maidens, called three 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


9 


times in a shrill voice, with the expression 
of a Gorgon, a prophetic ‘ woe !’ threw a 
roll at my trembling Hero’s feet, and hastily 
vanished. 

“ The girls, as if spellbound by this mys- 
terious apparition, took the roll from the 
ground and untied its fastenings. The 
contents consisted of a written parchment 
and a triangular piece of blank paper. 
The purport of the parchment was as fol- 
lows : 

“ ‘ Olbasanus the Chaldean, the inves- 
tigator of the future and warner of blinded 
humanity, writes this to Hero, the daughter 
of Heliodorus. The gods have announced 
to us that, inflamed with love for Lucius 
Rutilius, you cherish the design of accept- 
ing him for a husband. Olbasanus warns 
you against this intention, for his eye has 
read in the stars what horrible misfortunes 
threaten you and yours, especially Lucius 
Rutilius himself, if you carry out your re- 


20 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


solve. As you might not believe my warn- 
ing, I send you with this letter a sacred leaf 
from the book of the god Amun. Carry the 
page to the hearth, lay it on the stone flags, 
but so that the flames cannot reach it ; bow 
thrice with clasped hands and await the di- 
vine revelation. Amun himself, with in- 
visible finger, will write upon this page 
from his book and announce what is im- 
pending if you despise his sacred will.’ 

“ This was the purport of the parch- 
ment Lydia convulsively clenched in her 
fingers.” 

During the last few moments Caius Bo- 
nonius had pressed his friend’s arm more 
closely and showed other tokens of increas- 
ing interest. 

“ Olbasanus ?” he now asked, as Lucius 
Rutilius paused a moment to take breath. 
“ The Chaldean on the Quirinal ?” 

“ The same. His name had already 
reached my ears, but I now learned for the 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


21 


first time his ghost-like influence and his 
power.” 

“ Go on ! go on !” urged Bononius. 

“ Well,” continued the other, “ this 
paper had been enough to throw the two 
girls into the utmost excitement. Lydia — 
an exception to her sex — had hitherto 
made no attempt to pry into her friend’s 
secret, although she, too, had long since 
perceived our relations. Now, when the 
affair was so suddenly and unexpectedly re- 
vealed, she forgot the usual questions, 
amazement, congratulations. In her heartfelt 
anxiety she pressed into the rooms occupied 
by the head cook, impetuously sent away 
all the slaves, and told her friend to do 
what Olbasanus had directed. Hero, al- 
most bereft of her senses, bowed thrice over 
the mysterious page and, after a few 
seconds, perceived with mysterious horror 
the black characters that were to announce 
what barred her happiness. She read : ‘ To 


22 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


the father, madness, to the daughter, blind- 
ness, to Lucius Rutilius, death.’ ” 

“ Unprecedented !” cried Caius Bo- 
nonius. “ And a strange coincidence !” 

“What do you mean by that?” asked 
Rutilius. 

“ Afterwards, my dear fellow ! Let me 
first hear the end of your adventure ! True, 
I scarcely need an explanation of the result 
of the affair. What reply did you make 
when the young girls had shown you the 
page from the book of Amun ?” 

“I tried to doubt — but the spectral 
letters and my sorrowful Hero’s troubled 
eyes spoke only too distinctly. The fact 
that this was some strange marvel, an inex- 
plicable miracle, apparently sent by the 
gods themselves — never wavered. At first 
I was painfully moved, but in the course of 
our conversation, as Hero seemed to grow 
calmer, I regained a certain degree of con- 
fidence, and when in the middle of the first 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


23 


vigil * I entered my house, was disposed, 
spite of the still unsolved enigma, to regard 
the whole matter rather as a strange adven- 
ture than a misfortune. 

“ The next day was to undeceive me bit- 
terly. Going into the street at the time of 
the second breakfast, I saw two large trav- 
elling-carriages before the door of the next 
house. As I was about to ask one of the 
slaves who^ held the horses the object of 
these preparations, Heliodorus and the two 
young girls crossed the threshold. The 
Sicilian greeted me and said that he was on 
his way, with Hero and Lydia, to bid me 
farewell. Hero, who, as I knew, was a 
little tyrant, had suddenly declared that she 
detested Tibur from the very bottom of her 
soul and longed to go back to Rome, so as 
it was now so late in the season that he, 
Heliodorus, had no real reason for opposing 

* The Romans divided the time from sunset to sunrise into four 
night-watches, (vigiliae.) 


24 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


this wish, he had decided with his usual 
promptness. 

“ Of course I knew that Hero’s suddenly 
awakened longing was connected with Ol- 
basanus. She wanted to seek him, learn 
farther particulars about the strange proph- 
ecy, and if possible appease by prayers and 
sacrifices the hostile powers that opposed 
our happiness. 

“ Ere fifteen minutes had passed the 
whole party, including old Septimia and 
some of the household slaves, were seated 
among the cushions, and preceded by three 
horsemen, rolling along the road to Rome. 

“You will not be surprised, dear Bo- 
nonius, when I tell you that I, too, left 
Tibur that very day and returned to the 
seven-hilled city. With a heavy heart I 
approached the next morning the superb 
Hellenic dwelling on the northern side of 
the Caelian Hill, occupied by Heliodorus. 
The Sicilian received me cordially and 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


25 


kindly, though with a somewhat anxious 
air. Seating myself by his side, I learned 
that Hero seemed to be ill. Shortly after 
her arrival she had entered her litter, ac- 
companied by Lydia, returning at a late 
hour with every sign of agitation. Since 
then she had lain dejectedly on her couch, 
scarcely answering a question, but gazing 
fixedly, with a pallid face, into vacancy. 
Once she had burst into violent sobs, her 
whole frame shaken by emotion ; then in- 
creased depression and exhaustion followed 
until at last, long after midnight, she fell 
asleep. 

“ Of course I guessed what had hap- 
pened. Hero had been to Olbasanus and 
had heard from the soothsayers lips the 
same thing the inscription had predicted. 
Nay, it seemed as if the manner of this con- 
firmation had been far more terrible and de- 
moniac than the first warning by the page 
from the book of the god Amun. I was 


26 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


Utterly at a loss and, stammering my regret 
in incoherent words, left the house, begging 
the Sicilian to inform me when his daugh- 
ter s health was so far restored that I might 
repeat my visit without being intrusive. 

“ On the next evening,” continued Ru- 
tilius, — “ it was the very Friday we had 
chosen for the disclosure of our secret, but 
in my excitement I had entirely, forgotten 
Heliodorus’ birthday — I received a few 
lines from Hero that almost drove me to 
despair. 

“ ‘ We must part,’ she wrote, ‘part for- 
ever. I had hoped the cruel warning that 
terrified me at Tibur wa's only the expres- 
sion of some hidden resentment which 
might be appeased. But now I know that 
the gods themselves bar our way with their 
destroying curse. I have visited Olbasanus 
twice : day before yesterday at the dinner 
hour and yesterday at the commencement 
of the first vigil. This man — do not doubt 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


27 


it — holds intercourse with the gods, de- 
mons, and the dead; he has been given 
power over all the realms of spirits ! I have 
heard it with these ears, seen it with these 
eyes ! When, after manifold proofs of his 
omnipotence, I still doubted — alas, only 
because I shrank from despair — at a sign 
from the terrible man the goddess of death, 
Hecate herself, appeared to me in the 
clouds of the night heavens, aild in a voice 
like the roaring of the storm, repeated the 
awful words I had read on the page of 
Amun. We must part, Lucius, not for my 
sake — oh ! how gladly would I bear the 
curse of blindness, if I might win in you a 
higher, purer light — but for yours, to whom 
cruel Hecate predicts death, and for love of 
my dear father, whose mind is threatened 
with darkness. Farewell, dear Lucius ! 
May you learn to forget more easily than 

ir 

‘‘These were the words engraved upon 


28 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


my heart in indelible, torturing characters, 
as if written by a red-hot stylus. I now 
learned from my slave Gaipor, that Olba- 
sanus was really considered by thousands 
of people the most powerful conjurer among 
all the Chaldeans of the seven-hilled city. 
Gaipor himself, before I bought him, had 
been sent to the magician by his mistress, 
a lady from Neapolis, to enquire about the 
future, and had beheld with his own eyes, 
like Hero, the terrible apparition of Hecate, 
who, surrounded by flames, soared across 
the starry sky. You know, Caius, I am 
not very credulous. I’ve often laughed at 
our augurs * and soothsayers, and paid the 
homage of my sincere respect to that gen- 
eral in the time of the Republic, who when 
the sacred chickens would not eat, flung 
them into the sea. But here conviction 
pressed upon me with such power that I 
succumbed to its force . . . .” 


* Priests paid by the government, who predicted future events. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


29 


“ Hecate !” murmured Caius Bononius. 
“ This marvel was attested to me also, not 
by one or two persons who had beheld it, 
but by twenty. Know, Rutilius, that for 
months I have been reckoning what this 
Olbasanus accomplishes by means of his 
league with gods and demons .... But you 
had not finished your story. Go on, Lu- 
cius ; but make haste !” 

“ I have finished,” replied the youth. 
“There’s only one thing more to add. 
Amid the dull, heart-corroding grief that 
mastered me, the desire to visit in the hall 
of his incantations, the man who had de- 
stroyed my future — though with kind in- 
tentions — daily became more uncontrolla- 
ble. I, too, wished to ask the terrible 
queen of the underworld a question. 
Every effort to see my beloved Hero again 
was unavailing. Heliodorus, too, seemed 
completely transformed — his frank bearing 
had become so timid and constrained. The 


30 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


impossibility of speaking to Hero, or even 
Lydia, drove me to carry my desire into 
execution. Nay, I conquered my repug- 
nance to any contact with the supernatu- 
ral — and now, oh ! Caius, you behold me on 
my way to Olbasanus, firmly resolved to 
see with my own eyes what the gods have 
allotted and at least to bear away the one 
consolation that lies in the consciousness of 
immutability and eternally predestined fate.” 

“ On your way to Olbasanus !” cried 
Caius Bononius passionately. “Well, then, 
let us not delay ! I, too, am about to seek 
him. I sent my Glabrio yesterday, and 
Olbasanus appointed the second hour after 
sunset . . . .” 

“ You, too ?” asked Lucius in surprise. 

“ Yes, I, too — though from different mo- 
tives, my dear Rutilius. I am a philoso- 
pher, you know. For years I have searched 
and investigated; I am acquainted with the 
manifold appearances of animate and inani- 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


31 


mate nature; I don’t believe in this con- 
juror’s wonderful phantasmagoria. No mat- 
ter, the testimony of many truthful men lies 
before us, I cannot doubt that they have 
faithfully and honestly related what they 
heard and saw. So a torturing contradic- 
tion results. Either I am mistaken in deny- 
ing, with Pliny and Lucretius, the interfer- 
ence of demons in the affairs of men, or all 
these truthful people deceive themselves 
and are the victims of base, unprincipled 
fraud. Impelled by my curiosity, I am de- 
termined, so far as possible, to decide this 
question one way or another. So come, 
that I may not miss the hour Olbasanus has 
appointed.” 

Lucius Rutilius felt a thrill of joyful fear. 
A gleam of hope flashed through his soul, 
for his friend’s words, spite of their meas- 
ured reserve, expressed strong confidence. 

“ Let us hurry !” he said, trembling with 
impatience. 


32 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


So the two friends went back into the 
house, and passing around the Viminal Hill 
by the side of the Tullian wall, turned 
towards Olbasanus’ dwelling. 


33 


CHAPTER III. 

Not far from the enormous Baths which 
the Emperor Diocletian, — as if to atone for 
preferring to reside in Nicomedia or Salona 
rather than in Rome, — had had built on the 
northeastern slope of the Viminal as far as 
the spot where the height merges into the 
Quirinal, there stood near the Collina Gate 
a singular structure, almost recalling in the 
ponderous splendor of its brilliantly-painted 
facade the royal palaces of Assyria and 
Persia, yet as fresh and new as if it had 
just emerged from the hands of architect and 
workmen, an architectural embodiment of 
the taste of an age which had a fancy for 
cleverly imitating the style of by-gone 
times, not only in the weak creations of a 
degenerate literature, but in other depart- 
ments of human activity. 

3 


34 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


True, in this instance it had not been the 
architect’s whim or his employers taste, 
but a definite, practical purpose that had 
replaced the simple fagade of the Roman 
dwelling by this fantastic luxury of the 
East. Behind the ponderous pillars adorned 
with heads of animals, Olbasanus, the Chal- 
dean enchanter and conjuror of evil spirits, 
the declared favorite of the Roman ladies, 
practised his mysterious arts, — and thus the 
exterior of the spacious structure harmon- 
ized with the strange events that occurred 
within. The foreign aspect of the front 
might be regarded as a preparation for the 
chosen ones whom Olbasanus permitted to 
cross the threshold of his secret sanctu- 
ary. 

Lucius Rutilius and Caius Bononius 
reached the door at the very moment it was 
opened from within, allowing a tall, thin 
figure, wrapped in a thick paenula, to pass 
into the street. Spite of the mild weather, 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


35 


the stranger had drawn over his head the 
hood worn as a protection from the rain. 

Stepping a little aside, the two youths 
made room for the disguised figure. 

I ought to know that gait and bear^ 
ing,” said Lucius Rutilius, looking after the 
hurrying form ; but he vainly strove to 
recollect. Meantime the porter had not 
closed the door, but holding a lantern of 
chased silver with panes of oiled papyrus, 
admitted the two visitors. 

Caius Bononius gave him a silver coin 
and asked if the Chaldean could be seen, 
according to his appointment. 

The porter beckoned to one of the 
seven bearded Ethiopians who, clad in long 
robes confined around the hips by wide 
girdles inscribed with strange characters, 
stood waiting at the entrance of the cor- 
ridor, and the man thus summoned silently 
led the new arrivals through the wainscoted 
ante-room. As he moved forward almost 


36 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


without a sound, the train of his cowl-like 
robe rustling softly over the floor, holding 
in his right hand a torch that cast spectral 
shadows on the countless joints and pro- 
jections of the masonry, he himself seemed 
a supernatural being, well calculated to 
make a mysterious, agitating impression 
upon sensitive souls. The way led through 
a double row of short, heavy columns to a 
staircase whose basalt steps extended 
downward to a subterranean passage, just 
high enough to permit a tall man to walk 
upright under the ragged arch cut in the 
forms of stalactites. The smoke from the 
torch floated in horrible shapes along the 
roof A heavy, oppressive atmosphere pre- 
vailed. On the right and left, in black 
cavities, lay an endless number of skulls. 
After a time the corridor turned ; a second 
gallery opened, from which branched a third 
and fourth. At last the young men lost all 
idea of the direction in which they were 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


37 


going. Lucius Rutilius thought they must 
have long since reached the other side of 
the hill ■; Caius Bononius, on the contrary, 
was disposed to believe that the staircase 
which now led them into a spacious, dimly- 
lighted room, was not very far from the 
entrance flight at the end of the pillared 
corridor. 

The apartment they entered was a mas- 
terpiece in the effective use of architectural, 
plastic, and decorative ornament. When 
the Ethiopian had retired with his blazing 
torch and let down the iron trap-door at the 
top of the stairs, the two youths at first 
supposed themselves to be in total dark- 
ness. True, a tiny pale-blue flame was 
burning at the back of the room in a can- 
delabrum about the height of a man ; but 
•the rays it shed through the vast chamber 
were not sufficient to show eyes dazzled 
by the torch-glare anything more than the 
glimmering outlines of huge, ponderous 


38 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


masses. By degrees, however, their vision 
became accustomed to this feeble light, and 
Caius and Lucilius discovered the elliptical 
arrangements of huge pillars, behind which 
ran a deep corridor that looked almost 
black. Only a pallid glimmer between the 
shadows of the columns showed that on 
the other side of this corridor extended a 
wall, following the line of the room within. 
Twelve of the pillars — that is, one-third of 
the whole number — which were directly 
opposite to the entrance, were artistically 
draped with countless floating black hang- 
ings, between which hung all kinds of 
chains, cords for suspending lamps, and 
other accessories, carefully arranged in such 
a manner as not to weaken the impression 
of height and space. 

The ceiling of the room was slightly* 
arched, but its construction, owing to the 
extreme height, could not be distinguished. 
At the end of the apartment, in front of the 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


39 


candelabrum, was a large square altar, also 
hung with dark cloth. Tripods, brazen 
monopodia* covered with all kinds of 
strange utensils, low stools, and various un- 
recognizable articles were arranged in sym- 
metrical order on both sides. In the centre 
of the floor lay a rug about thirty feet 
square, painted or interwoven with mysteri- 
ous figures ; on each corner stood a candle- 
stick even taller than the candelabrum at 
the end. 

The young men had about five minutes’ 
time in which to examine their surroundings 
by the dim light of the livid flame, then 
there was a sound like the distant notes of 
an Aeolian harp and, without their knowing 
how and whence he came, Olbasanus stood 
behind the cloth-draped altar. 

“You do not come alone, Caius Bon- 
onius !” he said, in a musical voice. “No 
matter — I know. Most mortals cherish 


* Citron-wood tables, with an ivory foot. 


40 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


scruples about approaching, relying solely 
on their own strength, the rooms where the 
gods are to reveal themselves directly and 
indirectly. Let your companion, whoever 
he may be, also draw near ; his quiet, de- 
vout presence will not disturb the Chal- 
dean’s work.” 

“You are mistaken, Olbasanus,” replied 
Caius Bononius, “the person accompanying 
me is the one who longs to address a ques- 
tion to the goddess. I, Caius Bononius, 
only sent my messenger to you in behalf of 
this youth ; for, I confess, I never felt a de- 
sire to lift the veil from the future.” 

“ I am mistaken,” replied Olbasanus. 
“That is the lot of all human beings, and 
mine also, so long as I speak to you only 
as a feeble and perishable man. The favor 
of the gods, when I appeal to them, first 
casts into my soul the light that renders any 
error impossible. Well ! Olbasanus is dis- 
posed to grant your wish, though as a man 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


41 


he cannot understand what could induce 
you to use this evasion.” 

“ The reasons are of small importance,” 
replied Bononius. 

“ Then you probably desire to have 
your companion’s name remain concealed 
from the prophet ?” 

Caius Bononius exchanged a hasty 
glance with his friend, then turning to 
Olbasanus, replied : 

“If it is agreeable to you, yes !” 

The Chaldean seemed to hesitate a few 
seconds. 

“ Greater power is required of the magi- 
cian’s art when the questioner conceals his 
name,” he said slowly; “but since you 
earnestly desire . . . 

“ We beseech it !” replied Bononius. 

The Chaldean now came with measured 
pace from behind the altar. 

“ Granted !” he said solemnly. 

Then he stretched out his hand, in 


42 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


which gleamed a small ivory wand. In- 
stantly the spacious room glowed with a 
light as bright as that of day. Lamps not 
only burned in all the candelabra — but even 
between the pillars flames seemed to spring 
from the ground ; shallow vessels appeared 
in which jets of light blazed steadily. 

The two youths were almost blinded by 
the spectacle of this transformation. Lucius 
pressed his hand to his brow as if bewilder- 
ed ; Caius stood motionless, apparently 
scrutinizing, considering, examining. At 
last a smile of satisfaction flitted over his 
face. He seemed to have found the solu- 
tion of this enigma, while Rutilius was still 
enthralled by the impression the miracle 
produced. 

“Approach,” said the Chaldean in so- 
norous tones. “ Stranger, what do you de- 
sire to know ?” 

Again the youths exchanged a glance ; 
then Rutilius said : 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


43 


“ I would fain learn what the gods have 
allotted to me, in case I fulfil the most 
momentous and important design of my 
life.” 

Olbasanus delayed his answer as before. 
At last he replied : 

“ I fear that is more vague than the gods 
permit. Can you not put your question 
more clearly ; mention, without reserve, the 
design of which you speak?” 

Rutilius felt Bononius secretly touch his 
arm. 

“No,” he said quietly. “I beg you to 
try whether an answer cannot be obtained, 
even without a more exact definition.” 

Olbasanus looked upward. A ray like a 
flash of lightning darted down. 

“Granted,” he said, turning to Rutilius. 
“ By all the terrors of the nether world, you 
are a favorite of the gods ; they bestow 
such marked kindness only on the chosen 
ones whom they wish to bless. They 


44 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


usually punish distrust of their interpreter 
by perpetual silence.” 

The two youths were growing more ex- 
cited every instant; Lucius, because the 
Chaldean’s grave, dignified manner seemed 
a warrant for the earnestness and truth of 
what he was about to announce ; Caius 
Bononius, because he was greatly disap- 
pointed, — he had been perfectly sure the 
magician would say that Lucius’ wish was 
not allowable. 

Olbasanus now touched the altar with 
his wand. A clear note, like that produced 
by striking metal, echoed through the 
room, and a boy clad in white entered 
through the curtains at the right. He car- 
ried a brazier filled with red-hot coals, 
which he placed on one of the brass stools 
beside Olbasanus. 

“ Bring in the victim/’ said the Chal- 
dean. 

The lad withdrew. Olbasanus seized a 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


45 


shovel, filled it with burning coals and car- 
ried it to one of the tripods, on which he 
carefully spread them, then returning to 
the altar raised his hands. 

Hecate !” he said in a hollow tone. 
Mistress of the Nether World, Princess of 
Darkness and Shadows, Ruler of Demons 
and Departed Spirits, omnipotent, awful 
goddess ! Neither primeval fate, nor any 
of the higher gods opposes what we design. 
So I implore thee to graciously grant* what 
Olbasahus timidly whispers. Disclose the 
future to this youth, quench his thirst for 
the unfathomable, fill his eyes with clear 
vision, and teach him what ghosts and 
demons from east to west impart to thee. 
If thou art disposed to favor him who, like 
so many hundred others, appeals to thee, 
stir thy sacred element ; let thy spirit fan 
the fiery flame and animate it with thy im- 
mortal breath !” 

After these words he advanced a few 


46 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


steps to the tripod and gazed intently at 
the glowing coals. Lucius and Caius had 
also approached. Suddenly the bits of coal 
began to move slowly. There was a surg- 
ing and seething, as if the force of some 
unknown vitality pervaded the blazing 
brands, until at last the movements grew 
weaker and finally ceased. 

The Chaldean stepped back, folded his 
arms, and bowed. 

The white-robed boy now appeared, 
leading a black lamb by a rope that glist- 
ened like silver. Binding the animal firmly 
to the altar, he approached the two youths 
and offered them an onyx dish. His atti- 
tude was unmistakable. Lucius took some 
gold coins from the purse hanging at his 
belt and placed them in the vessel. The 
boy thanked him and again retired behind 
the curtain. 

Olbasanus, holding his magic wand in 
his right hand and pressing the left on his 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


47 


heart, lowered his eyes, saying to Lucius 
Rutilius : 

“ Kneel, my son. According to ancient 
custom we will slaughter a black animal to 
the goddess of the Under World. Pray 
that the holy rite may succeed ! The en- 
trails of the beast, inspired by Hecate’s 
divine breath, will announce to us what we 
are striving to know — not in mysterious 
symbols, which require interpretation, but 
in plain characters that are familiar to 
human eyes. Victim of Hecate, die !” 

He raised the wand over his head. The 
black lamb fell as if struck by lightning. 
Directly after, two attendants on the sacri- 
ficial rites appeared — pallid youths clad 
in Greek chitons and Persian trousers, with 
gay kerchiefs bound about their heads. 

“ Stranger,” — Olbasanus turned to Luci- 
us, — “ approach and touch the animal which 
has succumbed to the attack of my helpful 
demons.” 


THE ’ CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


Lucius Rutilius, who was growing more 
timid and faint-hearted every moment, ad- 
vanced. The animal’s limbs were already 
stiff. As the. youth grasped the woolly 
fleece, the lamb’s head fell back, showing 
the glazed eyes. 

The attendants removed the rug from 
the altar-slab and laid the victim on it; 
while Lucius Rutilius held the beast’s fore- 
foot clasped in his left hand, one of the 
youths gave the Chaldean the knife. The 
lamb was opened and Olbasanus, muttering 
all sorts of magic formulas, removed the 
heart and the liver. The next moment the 
animal was taken away and the altar 
cleansed from the blood by large linen 
cloths dyed black. 

Olbasanus held the heart and liver in 
his outstretched left hand until the slaves 
had put a brazen plate on the altar, then 
laying the entrails on the metal, he waved 
his wand and said to Lucius: 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


49 


‘^Approach and read !” 

At these words a sound like the roll of 
thunder echoed through the room. Lucius 
Rutilius, with a throbbing heart, bent over 
the plate. There, in the centre of the still- 
smoking liver, appeared in distinct Greek 
letters : 

©ANATOS — Death. 

The young patrician staggered back. 

Death !” he murmured, as if benumb- 
ed. 

Caius Bononius had also advanced to 
read the large, somewhat irregular char- 
acters of the prophecy. Panting for breath, 
he gnawed his lips, frowned, and clenched 
his fist, as if he needed some physical 
means to help him resist the impression of 
this incomprehensible miracle. He acknowl- 
edged to himself that he lacked any expla- 
nation for it; yet his clear, unprejudiced 
reason rebelled against what his eyes could 


50 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


not deny. He touched the writing with his 
finger — it did not wipe off. That Olbasan- 
us had not written it himself, either before 
or while he placed the liver on the metal 
plate, Caius Bononius could swear by all 
the gods. Already a troubled “ If it should 
be true ?” was darting through his mind, 
when glancing aside he detected the almost 
imperceptible smile with which the magician 
was watching the sceptical examination of 
the inscription. To the young man’s pene- 
tration this smile contained a singular mean- 
ing. It was not the lofty expression of pity 
and divinely-bestowed power, which in the 
full possession of its sacred might looks con- 
descendingly down upon the bewildered 
doubter ; but the crafty smile of the Greek 
who has succeeded in defrauding his foe of a 
piece in the game of draughts, or the daring 
adventurer who has accomplished a bold 
deed and successfully effaced every trace of 
his action. Thus, in this strange fashion, 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


51 


the philosopher, where logic left him in the 
lurch, drew fresh power of resistance from 
the domain of feeling ; the instinct that led 
him to consider the affair trivial because 
the person was suspicious. 

“ Do you still doubt, Caius ?” whispered 
Lucius with quivering lips. “ Come ; I 
know enough now. How I shall bear it 
remains in the hands of the gods.” 

I doubt more than ever,” replied Bon- 
onius. “ The day will come when I shall 
unravel this mystery. Now, I beseech you, 
don’t desert me and above all yourself and 
your hopes so unceremoniously. Put more 
questions to him, ask for other signs ! They 
say he makes the goddess’s voice speak 
from a skull ; and Heliodorus’ daughter her- 
self wrote to you that the magician brought 
Hecate’s flaming form from the night-heav- 
ens. Outweigh his marvels with gold, but 
let him do what he can, for the sake of truth 
and the prosperity of your happy future. I 


52 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


now long more than ever to behold — and 
be able to despise — all his arts.” 

“ You are blaspheming, Caius !” said the 
startled Lucius. “ Suppose the terrible god- 
dess, the destroyer of my life, should punish 
you !” 

“ Punish me? For what ? If it is she, 
she ought to be grateful to me for revealing 
the abuse of her name ; but it is not, other- 
wise she would have dragged yonder fellow 
into the eternal gulf long ago.” 

A pause ensued. Olbasanus seemed to 
be secretly gloating over the impression his 
prophecy had produced on the two young 
men, for he imagined that Caius Bononius’s 
whispered words were the expression of 
wondering anxiety. 

“ The Mistress of Night has prophesied 
death to me,” Rutilius at last began. “ But 
one thing still weighs on my mind. May I 
be permitted to question farther ?” 

“ Question,” replied Olbasanus. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


53 


“Then I would fain know whether this 
destiny can be averted by no sacrifice, no 
deed of expiation. If it is in your power, 
let me learn this. Implore the goddess to 
pronounce the oracle to the questioner in 
her own terrible voice.’' 

As before the Chaldean looked upward ; 
as before lightning flashed ; and raising his 
wand he exclaimed : 

“ Granted !” 

Again he drew from the altar the mys- 
terious metallic sound that summoned the 
white-robed boy. At an unintelligible or- 
der from the Chaldean, the lad went to a 
monopodium that stood near and took from 
it a little casket set with gems, which he 
placed beside the magician. Then the onyx 
vessel again appeared, and Lucius Rutilius’s 
gold coins fell rattling within. Directly 
after the dark curtain between the two pil- 
lars behind the altar was drawn aside, re- 
vealing a semicircular niche lighted by a 


54 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


bluish lamp. The wizard took from the 
casket a small vessel, whose contents he 
burned on the brazier of coals. A fragrant 
smoke rose to the ceiling, and at the same 
moment all the lights went out except the 
bluish lamp, whose glimmering rays showed 
a grinning skull on the floor of the niche. 

Olbasanus beckoned to the questioner. 
Resting both hands on the altar, Lucius 
Rutilius was to gaze into the ghostly niche 
and hear the decree of the terrible goddess. 
As Caius Bononius also wished to see and 
hear, he, too, was obliged to grasp the edge 
of the altar with his right hand. 

“ Be silent and vanish, ye spirits and 
demons,” the Chaldean now began in a 
mysterious tone. “ Be silent and vanish, 
for Hecate, the Inscrutable, will herself 
speak to this creature of the dust through 
the symbol of her omnipotence, the skull on 
the floor of her sanctuary. The fleshless, 
brainless skeleton, once the seat of thought, 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 55 


the extinct lamp of a long- forgotten human 
life, will serve the Invisible One for an abode 
when she rises from the depths of the 
nether-world. Announce to me, Omnipo- 
tent One, has the breath of thy divine life 
entered this mouldering shell ?” 

A hollow, horrible: ‘^Thou sayest it,” 
echoed from the lofty forehead of the 
skull. 

Lucius Rutilius started violently. Cains 
Bononius thought himself deceived in the 
direction from which the voice came, and 
leaning forward listened breathlessly. 

Olbasanus had bowed his face upon the 
altar, as if the presence of the immortal 
goddess bent his head in timid reverence. 
Now he slowly rose. 

Be merciful unto us. Thou Mistress of 
all !” he said, extending his hands towards 
the niche as if imploring protection. “ This 
youth desires to know whether the destiny 
thy sternness predicts is as inevitable as a 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


56 


decree of fate, and if not — what he must 
do to avert the terrible doom.” 

After a pause the voice again echoed 
from the skull : “His fate is inevitable if he 
executes what he has planned,” came from 
the horrible cavity in a whisper so distinct 
that even Bononius could no longer doubt. 
“ In resignation lies the sole salvation of his 
life. This, Hecate, who removes all that 
her breath has touched, announces to him.” 

With these words a terrible peal of 
thunder resounded through the hall. The 
skull in the niche began to stir, and — in- 
credible marvel — grow smaller, like a cloud 
in the evening sky which gradually melts in- 
to nothing. The two young men gazed 
fixedly at the mysterious phenomenon. 
Two minutes more, and the skull had en- 
tirely vanished from the shining floor — it 
had not sunk into the earth, but, as it were, 
fallen to pieces, blown away, dissolved in 
smoke like a phantom. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


57 


When Cains Bononius looked up, he saw 
his friend lying apparently lifeless, on the 
altar steps. 

“ It is all over,” he murmured, pale with 
horror, as Bononius touched him on the 
shoulder. 

For a time Caius left the sorrowing 
youth to his despair. Olbasanus, who was 
probably accustomed to such scenes, waited 
silently a few steps off. 

“ Lucius,” the young sage began after a 
little hesitation, “consider only one thing! 
The gods, if they exist, must be regarded 
as the incarnation of everything that is sub- 
lime. But the nobler, purer, and therefore 
more akin to the gods a man’s nature is, the 
more decidedly he is repelled by the hor- 
rible and ghostly. The very idea of divin- 
ities, even of a deity ruling the realm of 
death, forbids us to believe incidents such 
as we have just witnessed to be the expres- 
sion of their will. I, too, cannot guess this 


58 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


Chaldean’s enigmas ; but I doubt with all 
the power of my mind that they are what 
he declares them to be. Do you also doubt, 
Lucius ! Own to him that you do ; don’t 
spare your money, and ask fresh testimony. 
Your Hero, you said, saw the goddess of 
death ; do you, too, request a sight of her, 
in order either to believe implicitly or find 
the lever by which you can overthrow all 
these incomprehensible things.” 

This time there was some delay before 
Lucius Rutilius could be persuaded. But at 
last, becoming more and more influenced 
by his friend’s calmness, he yielded and 
made the request Bononius directed. 

Olbasanus’s penetration had long since 
anticipated this turn of affairs. He silently 
led the two youths through half-a-dozen 
paths running in different directions across 
the dark park. Situated on a gently-rising 
hill, the magician’s garden covered a square 
of several hundred feet, which was enclosed 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


59 


like a sanctuary by walls almost as high as 
a house, and overgrown with ivy and other 
climbing vines. Here and there fountains 
played in alabaster basins ; strange statues, 
looking like pallid shades in the starlight of 
the moonless night, stood, like spectral 
guards amid the shrubbery. Ancient ever- 
green-oaks and plane-trees spread their 
many-branching crowns. 

In the centre of the grounds was a cir- 
cle about sixty yards in diameter. Here 
the magician paused with his companions. 

“Your wish is a presumptuous one!’' 
he said to Lucius Rutilius. “ Only in rare 
cases does the goddess grant so insolent a 
desire. But you, I repeat, seem to be 
chosen as an object of her special favor. 
Hecate ” — he folded his arms across his 
breast — “ wills it, and will appear to you. 
Nay, she will even tolerate the presence of 
him who stands as a sympathizing friend by 
your side. But — I warn you ! Remember 


6o 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


Semele, who wished to behold Zeus in all 
his Olympian majesty and was consumed 
in anguish in his arms. True, death and 
destruction will not come to you from the 
sight of the Inscrutable One, for she ap- 
pears of her own free will, not constrained 
by any oath binding upon the gods. But 
even thus the vision will confuse your mind 
and senses, stir your heart with dread and 
horror. Surrounded by scorching flames 
she will cross the starry sky, visible only to 
your eyes and mine, and overwhelming awe 
will stream from her shoulders like rain 
from a thunder-cloud. Never will you be 
able to efface this terrible spectacle from 
your memory. Therefore, do not brave the 
crushing vision too long ! As soon as you 
have once beheld it, bow your head in rever- 
ence and hide your face with your trembling 
hands. No question to the Immortal One 
is needed. Her voice has already an- 
nounced that your destiny is fixed ; there- 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


6t 


fore she will come from the left, from the 
regions of the west, and flame across to 
the east. If her own favor and mercy 
could avert this fate — and she alone in rare 
cases can loose bonds the fettered one him- 
self could rend by no sacrifice, no atone- 
ment — she would rise from the right like 
the sun and vanish towards the left. Now, 
— are you prepared ?” 

“ We are,” replied Rutilius. 

Olbasanus threw himself on the ground. 
Gently striking his forehead thrice against 
the hard trodden earth, he cried in a tone 
of despairing fervor : 

“ Hecate, Princess of the Nether World, 
Mistress of all that has breath, show thy- 
self to the eyes of this chosen youth, 
and, if it is possible for thee, rise from the 
regions of the east.” 

Suddenly a strange, ghostly rustling 
echoed on the air, a whirring like the dis- 
tant sound of mighty wings. .A blazing 


62 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


fiery glare flamed in the sky — but from 
the west. The apparition crossed the heav- 
ens with furious speedy — half concealed by 
the boughs of a row of lofty elms. 

“ Hide your faces, unhappy men the 
Chaldean had shouted at the first ray of 
light, and in tones so sharp, so full of real 
terror, that Lucius Rutilius involuntarily 
obeyed. 

Even Caius Bononius had shrunk back 
and did not look up fairly and steadily until 
the fiery vision had already sunk far in the 
east behind the dark horizon. 

Lucius Rutilius, half fainting with ex- 
citement, was led away by Olbasanus and 
Caius Bononius. The Chaldean interrupt- 
ed a question from the latter by the quiet 
remark : 

“The time Olbasanus placed at your 
disposal has long since elapsed. Other 
grief-laden mortals are already impatiently 
awaiting his aid.” 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


63 


At the end of five minutes Lucius 
Rutilius had recovered sufficiently to set out 
on his way home with the young philoso- 
pher. When Caius Bononius, on reaching 
his friend’s house, held out his hand, whis- 
pering : “ Calm yourself, Lucius,” he re- 

ceived no reply. Staggering like a drunken 
man Lucius hurried through the passage 
leading from the door to the atrium, and 
sought his couch, to lie awake all night. 

Caius Bononius also found himself in- 
describably agitated. The gulf between 
what he had witnessed and what his reason 
and judgment had long since decided con- 
cerning the nature of things and the mean- 
ing of the world was too irreconcilable, not 
to lead the mind of one so eager in the pur- 
suit of knowledge to try to restore in some 
way the interrupted harmony. Until early 
dawn he paced by lamplight up and down 
his study or the peristyle, searching, weigh- 
ing, and rejecting, till at last, almost tired 


64 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


to death, he flung himself, still in his toga 
and tunic, upon his couch and fell asleep. 


CHAPTER IV. 


From the time of his visit to Olbasanus 
Lucius Rutilius, who had previously con- 
stantly endeavored to obtain a meeting with 
his beloved Hero to cheer the sorrowing 
girl and induce her to change her desperate 
resolve, was completely transformed. 

Gifted with a larger share of imagination 
than of calm, unprejudiced investigation ; 
endowed with genuine poetic receptivity for 
all external impressions, he doubted neither 
the honesty of the mysterious Chaldean, 
nor the truth of what he had heard and seen. 

As Caius Bononius was unable to give 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


65 


any natural explanation of the marvels they 
had witnessed, his efforts, when he visited 
his friend the next day and earnestly en- 
deavored to weaken, as far as possible, the 
impressions of the preceding evening, re- 
mained unavailing. 

Since Rutilius was now convinced that 
the ardently-desired union with his beloved 
Hero would inevitably bring destruction, not 
only to himself but to her and her dear 
father, duty and honor seemed to him to 
command that he should not render the un- 
avoidable separation more difficult by delay 
and hesitation, but accomplish it at once 
through a heroic resolve. Even one more 
interview — a last farewell must be avoided 
— on this point he now agreed with the 
woman he loved. The arrows that had 
pierced so deeply into their yearning hearts 
must be torn out by force ; only thus, un- 
der the merciful protection of the gods, de- 
liverance might yet be possible ; if not for 

5 


66 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


him — for he felt that without Hero life, 
even amid all the splendors of the world, 
would lack light and color — perhaps for 
her, who could forget, who ought and must 
forget, though the very thought made the 
youth tremble. 

He therefore wrote to Hero briefly, that 
he, too, had heard the decree of the goddess 
of death and was convinced that the inex- 
orable will of Fate stood between them 
— so he would resign her. With what 
feelings he did so, he need not explain. As 
he wished her to regain her peace of mind, 
he informed her that he could not remain 
longer in Rome, where he should run the 
risk of meeting her and thus being re- 
minded afresh of the happiness he had for- 
ever lost. He would leave the Capital the 
following day, without naming the goal of 
his journey, that not even her thoughts 
should follow him. 

Lucius carried out this resolution with 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


67 


the haste of a man who hopes to fly from 
himself 

Accompanied only by a single slave, he 
rode at dawn northward across the Milvian 
Bridge — towards Etruria, to pass by Pisae, 
renowned of old, to Gaul. He had visited 
none of his numerous friends before leav- 
ing except Caius Bononius, to whom he 
named Massilia* as the place where he in- 
tended to remain for a few months. He 
had in that city, in the person of an Arpin- 
atian knight, a host who would receive him 
with open arms. 

* * 

* 

Meantime Caius Bononius was haunted 
night and day by the feverish desire to see 
clearly into the tangled web of the events 
he had experienced. 

If the marvellous incidents at the Chal- 


* Marseilles. 


68 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


dean enchanter’s house had been less num- 
erous ; if — with all their apparent reality — 
they had not borne a certain theatrical im- 
press, Bononius would have been disposed 
to enter more seriously than ever into the 
question : Is there really a higher spiritual 
power that rules the souls of the departed, 
and are there men who, in consequence of 
the peculiar nature of their mental facul- 
ties, are capable of entering into mutual re- 
lations with this higher power ? 

The studies in which Bononius had been 
engaged contradicted the truth of such a 
hypothesis ; they did not yield the smallest 
fact that could be construed in favor of 
it. Yet, — it is the brain most free from 
prejudice, the brain that has learned how 
often the impossible proves true, which is 
therefore the first to be ready to examine 
impartially what is strange and contradic- 
tory instead of unceremoniously refusing it 
authority with the cheap cleverness of aver- 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


69 


age minds. The true thinker does not re- 
ject what lies beyond the pale of experience, 
but simply what is logically inconceivable. 

Thus Olbasanus would have obtained 
undisputed success with Caius Bononius if 
instead of three amazing miracles he had 
displayed only one. But the instinct that 
was instantly aroused when Bononius de- 
tected the magician’s triumphant smile 
gave him no rest ; with the zeal of the 
investigator who hopes to make a discovery 
that will move the world, the young phi* 
losopher strove to find the most natural and 
simple explanation possible for the bewilder- 
ing phenomena. ... A hundred times he 
fancied he had grasped the truth by the 
wing, but it constantly escaped him, and 
the joyous gleam of hope proved illusive. 

There were two circumstances that gave 
him food for reflection. 

In the first place, even with the most 
comprehensive knowledge of all the powers 


70 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


of nature, it was not to be explained how 
the answer to Lucius Rutilius’s question, 
which Olbasanus did not know, agreed so 
exactly with the reply to Hero’s. The 
second circumstance appeared no less per- 
plexing. If this Olbasanus was really a 
juggler, who deceived his victims for his 
own selfish designs, what could have been 
more opportune than a final compliance 
with Lucius Rutilius’s wishes ? The Chal- 
dean might have imposed any penance on 
the sorrowing youth, and if he had only 
wanted money, named a very considerable 
sum by whose payment to the goddess’s 
representative the pretended fate could be 
averted. But there was nothing of the sort. 
Olbasanus’s goddess persisted, with the in- 
exorable severity of Fate, in the prophecy 
already made by the writing on the entrails 
of the victim. This fact told very decidedly 
in the sorcerer’s favor. What interest could 
the man be pursuing when, against his bet- 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


71 


ter judgment, he destroyed a lovers hopes, 
since their restoration undoubtedly prom- 
ised to be far more profitable to the sooth- 
sayer. 

The youth could find no explanation for 
these things. 

One day — about a week after Lucius 
Rutilius’s departure — he was walking 
through the avenues of the Campus Mar- 
tius. Caius had long neglected this after- 
noon exercise of several hours before din- 
ner ; now, when his head was burning 
from the constant restlessness of his excited 
thoughts, he had resumed the old custom, 
and to-day, for the fourth time, set out on 
his usual walk to the so-called Septae, the 
place where the ancient assemblies of the 
people were held, past the spreading 
boughs of the double row of maples, whose 
rustling foliage already began to assume 
the brilliant hues of autumn. 

Spite of the lateness of the season the 


72 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


air was as soft and mild as that of spring. 
A brilliant throng filled the carriage-roads 
and bridle-paths. Aristocratic dames were 
borne in magnificent litters through the 
laurel and myrtle groves, followed by a 
train of gaily-attired cavaliers — for the 
white toga of ancient Rome had long since 
ceased to be the exclusive costume of these 
fashionable gallants. Rich manufacturers 
from Alexandria rolled in the two-wheeled 
cisium, preceded by woolly-haired runners 
in bright red garments, side by side with the 
magnificent carriage of the senator who 
prided himself on his noble blood and the 
glittering pony chaise of the woman of the 
demi monde with her towering coiffure — 
the “ Libertina,” of whom Ovid has sung. 
Wrestling and throwing the discus were 
practised on the stretches of turf ; but the 
combatants merely played clever tricks on 
each other — compared with the fierce ath- 
letes who had steeled their muscles here 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


73 


under Tiberius and Caligula — and the dis- 
cus had grown smaller, as if intended for 
boys, a symbol of the increasing degeneracy 
which was finally to succumb to the mighty 
assault of the victorious German tribes. 

Caius Bononius walked through this 
splendid labyrinth like a somnambulist. 
Even here, amid the merry, frivolous popula- 
tion of the world’s capital, he could not shake 
off the burden weighing upon his heart and 
brain. On the evening he met Rutilius 
he had been on his way to detect the 
vanity of Olbasanus’ arts — and the con- 
sequence was that he found himself more 
than ever ensnared in the net of uncertainty. 
There was a touch of the tragi comical in 
this condition of affairs. Bononius, as he 
paced to and fro, had the vague feeling that 
he was playing a somewhat pitiful part 
before himself and the aristocratic company 
assembled under the maples. . . . 

Suddenly some one called him by name. 


74 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


He turned. 

Is it you, Philippus ?” he exclaimed, as 
a stately man about thirty-six years old 
approached him from a side-path. The 
new-comer wore the military dress of a 
centurion (captain) of the city prefect ; his 
features expressed resolute will, combined 
with unmistakable kindness of heart and- 
frankness. 

“ How are you, Bononius ?” asked the 
soldier, offering the young philosopher his 
hand. “ Are you still alive, or is it only 
your shade wandering here ? By Hercules ! 
it’s at least three months since I last had 
the pleasure of shaking hands with you. 
What are you doing, you incomprehensible 
hermit ? Still melting metals on the tripod, 
or again busied with Heraclitus’ horrible 
writings ? It must be something terrible 
that estranges you so entirely from your 
best friends.” 

“You are right,” said Bononius. “I 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


75 


have been unusually busy during the last 
few months. But you see I’m improving.” 

They walked on for some distance side 
by side. The young man liked to listen to 
the fresh, kindly talk of the sturdy cen- 
turion, who now criticised a horse, now 
spoke of the last races and the newest 
pantomime, or with blunt originality ex- 
pressed his admiration of one of the cele- 
brated beauties who passed reclining among 
the cushions of their litters or calashes. 

“ Look there !” he said suddenly, check- 
ing the torrent of his eloquence. “No, 
can it be possible ? How pale she looks ! 
. . . . Don’t you know her — Hero, Helio- 
dorus’ daughter ?” 

Caius Bononius started violently. He 
had never seen the object of Lucius Ruti- 
lius’ love, much as his thoughts had been 
occupied with her during the last week. 
There was no apparent reason for seeking 
her ; nay, by going to the Sicilian’s house 


76 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


he would have frustrated his self-sacrificing- 
friend’s expressed wish. But now, since 
chance had caused this meeting, the young 
man felt as if he had only needed a glimpse 
of Hero to obtain a clear insight into all 
the enigmas that tortured him. He almost 
devoured with his eyes the lovely girlish 
figure which, wrapped in the folds of a 
dazzlingly white palla, was just turning into 
the elm avenue by the side of a thin young 
man. 

Pretty Hero was indeed pale ; pale and 
sad, despite the faint smile of courtesy that 
hovered around the small, pouting mouth, 
and the impression was increased by her 
thick, light-brown hair, which in a simple, 
waving line framed the symmetrical brow. 
She gazed without interest at the motley 
throng, listened unsympathizingly to the 
eager words of her excited companion. 
Behind her, by the side of a fresh, bloom- 
ing girl of fifteen, whom Caius Bononius 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


77 


supposed to be the Lydia so often men- 
tioned by Rutilius, walked Heliodorus, the 
father of the pallid Hero, evidently in an 
angry mood, for his brows were contract- 
ed, his lips tightly compressed. He seemed 
to be absorbed in an earnest conversation 
with Lydia. 

“ Is that Hero ?” asked Bononius. 
“ And who is the unattractive fellow talking 
to her so eagerly ?” 

“ Agathon, a countryman of Heliodo- 
rus. I’ve often met him at the city- prefect’s.” 

Bononius and Philippus now passed the 
group. Philippus bowed. Bononius gazed 
fixedly now at Hero, now at her companion, 
Agathon. There was something in this 
man’s appearance which seemed familiar, 
though he thought he most distinctly re- 
membered that he had never met him 
before in his life. So he forgot all regard 
for courtesy, and when Heliodorus had also 
passed with Lydia, Caius Bononius, spite of 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 




the city custom which forbade such things, 
could not refrain from gazing after their 
retreating figures. 

When he thus caught a back view of 
Agathon’s form a recollection like a revela- 
tion suddenly darted through his brain. 
That was the same thin figure which, on the 
evening he was standing with Lucius 
Rutilius at Olbasanus’ door, came out of the 
ostium* . and walked away. The bearing, 
the peculiar movement of the right shoul- 
der, the whole appearance, — all was unmis- 
takable. 

The young man now clearly perceived 
what had hitherto been ns incomprehensible 
to him as the wondrous nocturnal appari- 
tions — Olbasanus’ motives. Everything 
Olbasanus had predicted to the unhappy 
Rutilius and sorrowing Hero was by 
Agathon’s direction. The motive that in- 
fluenced the latter required no explanation. 

* Passage leading from the door to the atrium. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


79 


Hero was young, beautiful, rich, — and 
Agathon was a suitor for her favor. Caius 
Bononius especially emphasized the wealth 
■ — it already filled him with satisfaction to 
be able to despise the aforesaid Agathon 
more heartily than would have been allow- 
able if his intrigue had been caused solely 
by a mad passion for the charming young 
girl. 

True, this discovery did not make the 
incomprehensible things Rutilius and Bon- 
onius had witnessed in the Chaldean’s house 
one hair s breadth more intelligible ; but 
Bononius had gained fresh courage and 
energy to advance, by the employment of 
^ every possible means, towards the goal on 
- which, freed from the last remnants of meta- 
physical doubts, he now boldly fixed his 
gaze. He was now aware that Olbasanus 
was no fanatic, no enthusiast who at least 
partially deceived himself, but a juggler, 
:/ who served as the tool of the base selfish - 

V' 

% 


8o 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


ness of a malicious sneak. This juggler 
must be unmasked — the youth’s determi- 
nation to do this was as firm as the de- 
votee’s faith in the mercy of deity. 

The centurion had noticed his com- 
panion’s agitation and, with his natural 
frankness and absence of reserve, asked 
what there was in the Sicilian’s appearance 
to cause so much surprise — had Caius 
Bononius discovered in Hero some neigh- 
bor at the circus, for whom he had long 
sought in vain, or recognized in Agathon 
a troublesome rival ? The youth was in a 
mood that renders the heart communicative 
and desirous of seeking counsel from others ; 
he had long prized the centurion as a relia- 
ble and discreet man ; besides, he thought 
he perceived that Philippus also cherished 
no special regard for Agathon. 

One word led to another. 

Strolling a little apart from the throng, 
Bononius at first gave the centurion some 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


8l 


hints and then, after Philippus had sworn 
by all the gods to maintain the most in- 
violable secrecy, told him the adventure at 
Olbasanus’s. 

The worthy centurion was frantic with 
indignation. He had never believed in the 
conjuror’s fool-tricks ; but here the whole 
thing was as clear as day : Agathon, the 
base sharper, had bought Olbasanus ! He, 
Philippus, knew that Agathon’s money mat- 
ters were very much involved. Of course, 
the extravagant roue thought he could find 
no better investment for the few hundred 
sesterces remaining out of many millions 
than to use them in obtaining the im- 
mense heritage Hero, as her mother’s only 
child, would bring as a marriage dowry. 
The matter was as clear as sunlight. But 
the insolent cheat had not reaped his har- 
vest yet — and, judging by the expression 
on Hero’s pretty face, Philippus considered 
it doubtful whether he ever would win what 


6 


82 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


he wished to sneak into so craftily. No 
matter : Agathon’s probable failure did not 
make amends for the harm the abominable 
conjuror had done poor Rutilius. He, 
Philippus, would do everything in his power, 
in company with Caius Bononius, to set the 
affair to rights. 

“ Come and breakfast with me to-mor- 
row !” he said at last, after mentioning all 
these points with excited volubility. “We’ll 
sketch the plan of a campaign that will not 
only restore our worthy Lucius Rutilius to 
happiness, but satisfy your ardent curiosity 
about the secret powers with which Olbasa- 
nus works.” 

“ Very well,” replied Bononius. “Pll 
be there.” 

So they parted. 


83 


CHAPTER V. 

Three days after the interview between 
Cains and the centurion the Chaldean sor- 
cerer received a note, trebly sealed, con- 
taining the following lines : 

“ Lydia to the glorious Olbasanus, the 
confidant of the gods. 

“ I do not know whether you will still 
remember me. I crossed your threshold 
with the fair-haired girl from Syracuse, 
whom your divine prophecy saved from the 
most terrible misfortune. Her name is 
Hero, and she is a daughter of the estima- 
ble Heliodorus, who came last year to the 
strand of Tiber. Filled with admiration for 
your incomprehensible art, Lydia begs the 
counsel of the omniscient enchanter in an 
important and troublesome matter, whose 
details I cannot confide to you in this letter. 


84 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


But a fever which, though not dangerous, 
confines me to my bed prevents my seeking 
you at your own house. So, worthy Ol- 
basanus, accept in return for your trouble 
the three hundred denarii the boy will give 
you with these lines, and come as soon as 
your leisure will permit to the dwelling of 
her who seeks knowledge. You know the 
mansion with the Corinthian porticus on 
the northern slope of the Caelian hill. 
Tell me, by the slave, whether and when 
my impatient heart may expect you.” 

Olbasanus took the gold and wrote 
three words on one of the numerous strips 
of parchment which, daintily cut and piled 
one above another, were lying in a niche in 
the wall of his room. It was still early — 
scarcely an hour after sunrise ; the con- 
juror s labors, as a rule, did not begin until 
after the so-called prandium, or second 
breakfast, and were most numerous during 
the evening hours. So he could reply 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


85 


“Will come immediately!” — “for,” he 
added with courteous phraseology, “ Olbas- 
anus knows that he who gives quickly, gives 
doubly.” 

Twenty minutes after Olbasanus’s litter, 
radiant with gold and purple, borne by four 
coal-black Nubian slaves, stopped in front 
of Heliodorus’s vestibule. Such visits from 
the soothsayer and magician to aristocratic 
Roman ladies were neither unusual nor re- 
markable, though Olbasanus was somewhat 
chary of granting the favor. 

The Chaldean was respectfully received 
at the door by the chief slave of the atrium, 
who begged him to excuse the absence of 
the members of his master s family ; Helio- 
dorus had been detained in Antium for 
several days by important business, and 
Hero, his daughter, had gone to rest at a 
late hour and was still asleep. 

Olbasanus nodded with the quiet for- 
mality of a man accustomed to such phrases. 


86 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


and allowed himself to be conducted to the 
large sitting-room under the columns of the 
peristyle, where Lydia, reclining on a brass 
lounge, awaited him. 

As he crossed the. threshold the young 
Sicilian rose, greeted him with great em- 
barrassment, and requested him to follow 
her. 

Behind the sitting-room was a window- 
less, oval exedra"^ lighted from above — the 
apartment specially designed for the social 
chat so greatly prized and enjoyed by the 
Romans even in later times. 

Into this cosy private room Lydia con- 
ducted the smiling Oriental, who read in 
her timid confusion assurance of victory won 
and fresh triumphs for the future. 

But scarcely had the folding doors closed 
behind Olbasanus, when from the opposite 
ones three strong Germans rushed in and 
seized him as a pack of hounds fall upon a 


* Drawing-room. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 




wolf, spite of his desperate resistance, he 
was bound; a gag, thrust by the flaxen- 
haired Frieselanders between his jaws, 
barely allowed him to breathe. 

At the same time Caius Bononius and 
the centurion Philippus entered the exedra 
by a side door. 

“Why do you roll your eyes so, con- 
juror of Hecate?” said Bononius. “It 
will be an easy matter for the confidant of 
all the spirits of the Upper and Lower 
World to burst these bonds asunder and 
hurl the criminals who have assailed him 
lifeless on the floor.” 

Spite of the defiant scorn these words 
were intended to express, the young man’s 
voice had trembled. The glances that 
flashed from under the Oriental’s lashes 
were so fierce and diabolical, and the mem- 
ory of the events in the enchanter’s house 
on the Quirinal so fresh, that Bononius 
could not without emotion see the conquered 


88 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


man at his feet, — for in the struggle with 
the slaves Olbasanus had sunk upon his 
knees. 

At a sign from the centurion Philippus, 
the flaxen -haired Frieselanders now retired 
through the same door by which they had 
entered. He himself approached the fet- 
tered captive, drew his sword from its sheath, 
and said in curt, resolute tones : 

“ You have been guilty of an execrable 
crime. Recognize in me a commander of 
the armed body appointed to guard the 
welfare of the citizens. I could arrest you 
now without ceremony. Your fate would 
be undoubted ; since, apart from your 
offence against Lucius Rutilius and Heli- 
odorus’s daughter, the edicts of former em- 
perors, prohibiting Chaldeans and mathema- 
ticians a residence in the seven-hilled city 
on pain of death, are still in force. That 
the authorities have been negligent in 
executing these edicts ; that an indulgence 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


89 


has prevailed of whose injurious results you 
are the best proof, has little to do with the 
matter. Yet, — spite of your criminality, I 
will exercise mercy, if you will punctiliously 
fulfil two conditions that I shall impose. If 
you wish to hear them, give me some sign !” 

Olbasanus, who at Caius Bononius’s 
words had perceived that his role in Rome 
was played out, after a slight delay bowed 
his head like a man who submits to the in- 
evitable. The soldiers quiet, resolute 
manner did not permit him to doubt that 
Philippus would execute his threat. 

Lydia, who had hitherto remained aloof, 
now advanced a few steps and gazed with 
timid curiosity at the magician whom, not- 
withstanding Caius Bononius’s repeated 
admonitions, she still regarded as a sort of 
supernatural being. 

True — the pitiable abjectness which now 
took the place of his former -rage was well 
calculated to shake this superstitious dread. 


90 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


“ Very well,” said Philippus to Olbasan- 
us, “I’ll release you from the gag, that you 
may speak. But if you should cry out 
or attempt to frighten this young girl by 
magic formulas or any folly of that sort, 
my blade shall duly repay you for it.” 

With these words he removed the gag 
from the enchanter’s mouth. 

“My conditions,” he continued, “are 
simple enough. You perceive, Olbasanus, 
that we have discovered the true character 
of your incredible frauds, but we still lack 
the key to some of your criminal arts. 
This youth, who crossed your threshold for 
the sole purpose of seeing behind the cur- 
tain of the nonsensical conjurations with 
which you deluded people, requires a com- 
plete and truthful explanation of everything 
you did to deceive Hero and Rutilius. If 
you refuse or lie, our Germans shall drag 
you to prison this very day. You will also 
mention the person to whom you sold your- 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


91 


self for such reprehensible jugglery. The 
making of these confessions is my first con- 
dition. The second is — that you leave 
Rome before the end of the year. Go to 
Nicomedia or Alexandria, for aught I care; 
if these cities will tolerate your presence — 
and a man of your appearance doesn’t pass 
unobserved — that’s your affair. But here 
in Rome, where you have not only deluded 
a populace entrusted as it were to my 
charge, but my best friends, here I oppose 
to you my threatening sword — woe betide 
you, if you despise the menace ! If you ful- 
fil the task I impose, you shall be dismissed 
unharmed. Consider quickly and answer 
without circumlocution.” 

Olbasanus, with the keen penetration of 
the Oriental, had instantly perceived the 
whole situation. He felt that it was not 
hatred and revenge that roused these men 
against him, but on the part of one friend- 
ship for the basely deceived Lucius Rutilius, 


92 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


on that of the other feverish curiosity to 
learn the causes of the mysterious effects, 
which — he himself did not know how or 
in what way — had suddenly lost their 
supernatural character to Caius Bononius. 
So he thought that by the exercise of a little 
theatrical talent he could turn the conditions 
imposed to his own advantage. To leave 
the seven-hilled city did not seem too pain- 
ful a sacrifice, for he had long been con- 
sidering whether it might not be time to 
collect his riches and, by retiring to the 
seclusion of private life, escape the danger 
constantly threatening him from the ancient 
imperial edicts. Only he needed to remain 
unmolested until he could accomplish at his 
leisure this gathering of his means, especi- 
ally the conversion into money of his con- 
siderable landed property, his estates and 
country houses. So he did not reflect long. 

I’ll confess everything,” he said with a 
half sarcastic smile, “ if you’ll all swear to 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


93 


keep my acknowledgment secret for six 
months. You may disclose it only to Luci- 
us Rutilius and Heliodorus’s daughter, on 
condition that they, too, will promise to 
maintain silence. I will quit the seven- 
hilled city, too, as the centurion commands ; 
but I beg as a favor an additional delay of 
a few months. If you refuse ” — here his 
voice suddenly grew grave and threatening, 
like the roll of distant thunder, — “by all the 
horrors of death — I would rather give my 
neck to the lictor’s axe.” 

“ Grant it to him !” said Bononius, who 
was burning with impatience. 

Philippus consented and, with the young 
sage and Lydia, took a solemn oath. Then 
Bononius told the Chaldean, who could 
only move with difficulty, to sit down on a 
cushioned couch and answer his questioner 
with strict conformity to the truth. He 
himself stood with folded arms directly in 
front of the couch. Philippus, sword in 


94 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


hand, stationed himself by the magician’s 
side, while Lydia leaned in breathless ex- 
pectation over the back of a bronze arm- 
chair. 

“ First of all,” Caius Bononius began, 
'‘tell us one thing: do you believe in the 
existence of a power in the Nether World, 
a creature which has some traits akin to the 
terrible being in whom people believe under 
the name of Hecate? An answer to this 
question seems to me valuable, because I 
should like to know whether you have dared 
to offend, by the deception of your juggling 
arts, a divinity in whose power you trusted.” 

Olbasanus smiled. Now that he had 
once yielded, he seemed to take the whole 
matter very quietly and after the fashion of 
a man of the world, like the Epicurean, who, 
reclining on the dining-couch in the bril- 
liantly-lighted triclinium, chats about death. 

“ Sir,” he said with aristocratic calmness, 
" I believe, if not in Hecate, in the existence 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN, 


95 


of the mighty void she fills. I, who know 
mankind as a gardener does flowers, assure 
you : certain things must be systematically 
devised by us more talented men, if the im- 
agination of the people is not to exhaust 
itself Meantime, you might have the kind- 
ness to loose my bonds. Our sworn agree- 
ment, your superior numbers, and this 
centurion’s sword make the favor appear 
trivial, and it is more agreeable to philoso- 
phize if one is not enduring physical dis- 
comfort.” 

Caius Bononius made no delay in grant- 
ing this request. 

“Very well,” he began again when he 
had freed the magician from his ropes, “so 
you entirely deny the existence of super- 
natural beings ?” 

“ I deny nothing — assert nothing. This 
world is so mysterious, the nature of things 
is so unfathomable to our intellectual powers, 
that it would be madness to form a positive 


96 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN, 


opinion about the possibility or impossibility 
of a thing which does not come directly 
within our own experience.” 

“ I won’t dispute that. Now for de- 
tails !” 

“You need only question.” 

“What induced you to send that first 
message to Heliodorus’ daughter ? Who 
bought you ?” 

“Bought?” repeated the Oriental. “That 
sounds so unpleasant, Caius Bononius. Pro- 
phesying was my ordinary business. Like 
every one else who practises a profession, I 
was at the disposal of any one who paid for 
my art.” 

“Then, who paid you?” 

“Agathon, Philemon’s son.” 

“ But you have no scruples about ruth- 
lessly destroying the happiness of two 
human beings for glittering gold ?” 

Olbasanus shrugged his shoulders. 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


97 


“ If Hero believed it was thus ap- 
pointed by fate, the fact was a potent con- 
solation for all the grief of renunciation. 
Besides — do you know whether this union 
was for their happiness ? My oracle inter- 
posed, separated two persons who wished to 
be united : well, this was really the will of 
fate ; for everything that happens is abso- 
lutely necessary, and events are strung on 
the infrangible threads of chance. If you 
tell me that my prophecy would have de- 
stroyed their happiness, I shall answer with 
equal confidence ; it would have saved them 
from misery.” 

“ Admirable logic, by Hercules !” replied 
Bononius. “ But we won’t argue about the 
matter ! So Agathon bought — or paid 
you Did he tell you his reasons 

“ I did not ask him ; but as I knew the 
man, I guessed them. I knew that Agathon 
had been on the verge of ruin for several 
months, and having learned that Hero is 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


one of the richest heiresses in the seven- 
hilled city. . 

“ How did you learn that?” 

“ Was I to remain ignorant of what hun- 
dreds know? I don’t keep 'paid informers 
in all the fourteen districts for nothing. ...” 

“Very well. So you complied with his 
request, wrote to Hero, and sent her the 
mysterious page, which so strangely covered 
itself with black writing. How is this ex- 
plained?” 

“The mysterious writing can be ex- 
plained simply enough,” replied Olbasanus. 
“ I prepare from milk, salt water, and a third 
ingredient, whose combination 1 invented 
with great difficulty, a colorless ink which 
turns black as soon as it is warmed. The 
page from the book of the god Amun was of 
course previously written ; the heat of the 
fire produced the miracle that drove the 
poor, foolish girl to despair.” 

“ Confoundedly simple, to be sure !” said 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


99 


the mortified Bononius. “Name the third 
ingredient” 

How can I designate a nameless thing ? 
It is known only to me ; but to explain its 
preparation. ...” 

“ You are right There are more im- 
portant things in store for us. First : how 
could you know that the youth who accom- 
panied me, and whom I only encountered 
by accident, was Lucius Rutilius ? He as- 
sures me that he never met you. Did you 
recognize him ?” 

“ No. But I was daily expecting a visit 
from him? Besides, Agathon knew him, 
and Agathon met you as he left my door. 
While my servant was leading you by a 
roundabout way to the hall of conjuration, 
Agathon hurriedly returned and informed 
me of Rutilius’s immediate arrival.” 

“Yet the servant could not possibly 
foresee that it would be for your interest to 


100 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


delay our arrival. So why did he choose 
that way ?” 

“ It is the rule. All strangers pass 
through those corridors ; only those who 
come on errands, like Agathon, are con- 
ducted directly to my rooms.” 

“ I understand,” said Bononius. “ But 
suppose — we had not met Agathon ?” 

“ Then it would undoubtedly have cost 
me more trouble to ascertain the personal- 
ity of your companion — and I should have 
performed other miracles.” 

“ How did it happen that the candelabra 
around were lighted when you raised your 
wand?” 

“ Their stands are hollow. The lamps 
are already burning very low within the 
columns. A thick wire screen shuts off the 
reflection they would otherwise cast on the 
ceiling. When I raise the wand, my assis- 
tant behind the curtains turns an iron wheel 
which moves machinery that pushes the 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


lOI 


lamps Up from the floor, opens the screens, 
and turns up the wicks.” 

“ Go on !” said Bononius. “ The metal- 
lic sound your wand drew from the al- 
tar. . . . ?” 

“ Was produced by a copper basin con- 
cealed inside. A boy sits in front of it with 
an iron rod.” 

“ I supposed it was something- of the 
kind. But now : the sudden fall of the vic- 
tim ! Does the hidden boy have a hand in 
the game here, too ?” 

Here, too !” replied the magician. “ In 
the side of the altar is a small movable 
plate, which is covered with a thin layer of 
common salt. As soon as the animal finds 
its head near this plate, it begins, according 
to natural instinct, to lick it. When I give 
the sign, the boy, with a sudden push, drives 
the plate into an opening of the same size 
made in the marble, the space it formerly 
occupied being filled with a second plate, 


102 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


also covered with salt, which, however, is 
mixed with a poison whose action is instan- 
taneous. The results you have seen.” 

“ But suppose the lamb doesn’t accom- 
modate you ?” said the centurion. “ Suppose 
it should be tired, or satiated, or obstinate?” 

“That is provided for. The animal is 
deprived a long time of its favorite dainty. 
At the worst I incurred no risk. If the trick 
failed, it remained a secret ; the animal could 
then be killed as every priest slays his 
victim.” 

“You took out the heart and liver,” 
Bononius continued, “ I watched you with 
the utmost care. You held the wand in your 
right hand all the time that the entrails were 
in your left ; so the writing that so com- 
pletely robbed Rutilius of his self-command 
could not have come from the staff. Far less 
could the animal have had a liver ready 
inscribed in its body. How did this incredi- 
ble thing occur?” 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


103 


“ It was not done with the right hand 
which carried the wand,” replied Olbasanus 
smiling, “ but with the left, in which I held 
the liver.” 

‘‘ Impossible !” 

“ Understand me correctly. Before you 
entered the hall the word ©anatos was 
written in inverted characters on the 
palm of my left hand with a black fluid 
specially prepared for the purpose. The 
moist liver eagerly absorbed this fluid and 
when I laid it on the plate, the miracle was 
accomplished.” 

A long pause ensued. The ridiculous 
simplicity of this apparently incomprehensi- 
ble marvel, and the bold assurance displayed 
by the Chaldean produced a startling effect. 
Even Lydia now felt ashamed of having so 
long shared poor Hero’s terror and of only 
having given her consent after much fear 
and hesitation to the plan which was to un- 
mask the magician. 


104 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


“A masterpiece certainly!” said Bono- 
nius almost furiously. “ It ought not to sur- 
prise me now if I should learn that your 
talking skull was a vision of mist or smoke 1 
To be sure, things are not simple until they 
are understood. But we’ll keep to the regu- 
lar order of events 1 I don’t ask about the 
peals of thunder and flashes of lightning ; 
such things may be heard and seen, though 
far more imperfectly, even at the perform- 
ances of foolish pantomimes. But how do 
you explain the ghostly motion that arose 
in the brazier of coals? It was an amazing 
phenomenon.” 

“In the bottom of the brazier was a 
sheet of alum, which, melting and bubbling 
from the heat, imparted its own movements 
to the coals.” 

“ Now for the skull. Its speech was de- 
ceptive — as distinct as your own voice is 
now.” 

“It was the voice of an assistant." A 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


105 


tube led from the floor into the skull. The 
assistant spoke into it below, so the words 
seemed to proceed directly from the skull.” 

“ And its disappearance ?” 

“ Was caused by melting. The skull was 
modelled of wax and the plates of the 
niche were heated from below.” 

“ But it was not seen. . . .” 

“You saw nothing distinctly,” inter- 
rupted Olbasanus. “ Unperceived by you, a 
curtain of thin Coan gauze shut off the 
niche, thus rendering the illusion less diffi- 
cult. A similar effect was afterwards pro- 
duced outside in the grounds by the inter- 
laced network of the branches behind which 
the fire-showering Hecate passed across the 
sky.” 

“ Explain this flaming Hecate !” 

The Chaldean laughed heartily, then 
said in a tone of strange sarcasm : 

“ Pardon me ; but it is a singular fatality 
that my most effective masterpiece always 


io6 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


arouses my laughter. I have seen hundreds 
of credulous folk prostrate themselves on the 
circle of turf in my grounds and, covering 
their faces, moan and groan aloud as the 
horrible phenomenon rose in the dark sky. 
And yet — or perhaps it is for that very 
reason . . . the contrast is too sharp. This 
Hecate, who apparently passes with frantic 
haste across the firmament, is nothing but a 
poor kite wrapped in blazing tow. One of 
my assistants looses the unfortunate crea- 
ture, — which is prevented from screaming 
by a tightly-drawn leather strap, — through 
a huge pipe, twenty ells long. The tortured 
bird thus keeps the direction it has taken. 
Before the tow goes out, the kite has 
reached the place where it ceases to be visi- 
ble. Deceived by the branches of the 
numerous trees, the awed beholders imagine 
the fiery image is far away in the realms of 
air and attribute to it gigantic size and 
supernatural speed — just as the eye, when 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


107. 


gazing into vacancy, mistakes a fly buzzing 
close by for the dimly-seen shadow of a 
huge bird. This, oh ! Bononius, is Hecate, 
the Ruler of us all, the Princess of Dark- 
ness, the horrible tyrant of the Nether 
World.” 

“ Enough,” said Caius Bononius. “ I 
now see that we all have some trace of the 
mighty demon that is your most powerful 
ally — the fiend called superstition and 
human folly. I, too, confess myself guilty, 
under the impressions you conjured up be- 
fore us, of having been led astray from the 
convictions obtained by long years of ardu- 
ous labor. I am a human being and may 
say with the poet ; I consider nothing 
strange that is human, not even mortal 
weaknesses and errors. But you, Olbasa- 
nus, ought to fear the awakening tortures of 
your conscience ! Summoned by virtue of 
your unmistakable penetration to be a guide 
to erring humanity, to lighten the darkness of 


io8 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


its errors, and bring it to the truth, you do 
not disdain to profit by its weaknesses, like 
the miserable robber who plunders a sick 
and defenceless man. Leave us — or I shall 
be seized with loathing and forget my 
promise. Other feelings ought to rule my 
soul now — above all, joy at the happy turn 
in the fate of your deceived victims.” 

“I will go,” replied Olbasanus. “It is 
cheap and convenient to accuse me of crime. 
But I ask one question, Caius Bononius: how 
many of the countless throng that follow 
me along the road of error would be my 
companions, if I attempted to lead them with 
earnestness and zeal into the domain of 
truth? One in a thousand! Delusion is 
brilliant and magnificent ; its sultry breezes 
intoxicate ; the air on the heights of truth 
blows keen and cold, and humanity is a poor, 
freezing beggar.” 

Caius Bononius unceremoniously turned 
his back upon the speaker, and Olbasanus, 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


109 


holding his head proudly erect, left the 
exedra. 


Six weeks later, early in the month of 
December, Heliodorus’ house glittered in 
the splendor of festal array. Garlands of 
leaves and flowers twined around the Cor- 
inthian pillars ; countless lamps adorned the 
wide halls of the atrium and peristyle. A 
select company attired in fashionable cos- 
tume, ladies in gaily-flowered pallas, with 
glittering diadems and gold pins among 
their curls, senators in purple-bordered holi- 
day robes, rich merchants in Tyrian syn- 
theses, and laurel-crowned poets, thronged 
the gleaming colonnades. Heliodorus was 
celebrating the marriage of his daughter 
Hero to Lucius Rutilius. The worthy Bon- 
onius, who had not shrunk from taking the 
long journey to distant Massilia to bring 
his friend back to the scene of his newly- 


I lO 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


restored happiness, was treated by the 
bride with almost greater attention than she 
bestowed upon the bridegroom — an incom- 
prehensible enigma — and ^Lucius Rutilius, 
far from being seized with jealousy at this 
apparent neglect, also strove to show the 
young philosopher every token of the most 
cordial affection. Caius Bononius was evi- 
dently absent-minded. His heart had for 
some time been divided between satisfaction 
at the successful breaking of the spell which 
had weighed upon Hero and Rutilius, and 
another feeling that had ripened during the 
few days of his intercourse with Lydia. 
How it happened was doubtless known to 
Eros, the sole enchanter in whose omnipo- 
tence the sceptical Bononius found himself 
henceforth compelled to believe. In short, 
the young man desired nothing better than 
to gaze into Lydia’s deep, dark eyes, listen 
to her voice, or brush against her flowing 
stola while walking through the colonnades 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


I I I 


of the peristyle. Considering his past, it 
was extremely unphilosophical — but the fact 
could not be denied. 

Rutilius’ wedding afforded him ample 
opportunity to satisfy his longing in this 
respect. Lydia, too, who had at first been 
merely an admirer of his faithful friendship 
and untiring energy, gradually passed into 
another mood. After Hero’s departure from 
her father’s house the young girl felt 
strangely lonesome. . .When she fancied that 
it would be very delightful if she, too, like 
Heliodorus’ daughter, could have a home of 
her own where she might rule as the wife of 
a handsome, wise, talented man, this imagi- 
nary husband unconsciously assumed the 
features of Caius Bononius ... So it was 
not one of the greatest marvels that Eros 
ever accomplished when, the following April, 
Bononius and Lydia were married. 

Previous to this event, however, the aris- 
tocrats of the seven -hilled city were startled 


I 12 


THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. 


by two pieces of news which for a long time 
formed the topic of daily conversation. One 
was the sudden disappearance of the Chal ■ 
dean magician, who had sold all his estates, 
as well as the palace furnished with Orien- 
tal splendor on the Quirinal, and left Rome 
without bidding any one farewell ; the other 
was the suicide of Agathon, who had 
opened his veins in the warm bath of his 
own house, which had been mortgaged far 
beyond its value. 



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THE WIEIj.— A NOVEL, by Ernst Eckstein, from the 

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William S. Gottsbergcr, Publisher, New York. 


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by Krnst Kcksteill, from the German by Clara Bell. 
Authorized edition. In two vols. Paper, $i.oo. Cloth, $1.75. 

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full of the fibre and breath of its century.” Boston Ev'g Transcript, 


QUINTUS CLAUDIUS.— A Romance of Imperial Rome, 
by Ernst Eckstein, from the German by Clara Bell, in 
two vols. Paper, $1.00. Cloth, $1.75. 

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SERAPIS, A Romance by Oeorg Ebers, from the Ger- 
man by Clara Bell. A uthorized Edition. In one vol. Paper 
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represented, not as martyrs and haloed heroes, but as human beings 
with a great deal of human nature in them ; the touch of the Christian 
Bishop quite indifferent to the conversion and the fate of a young 
Christian maiden as soon as he learned that she preferred to be an 
Aryan Christian, being especially — shall we say natural, or artistic? 
The heroine is not a young girl ardent in the Christian faith, as is 
customary in similar historical stories, but one clinging fiercely to the 
old faiths ; the description of the torture to her soul, even after she 
began to turn to the light, in the sacrilegious destruction of the old 
gods and temples, being given with wonderful vividness. The mere 
outward descriptions are singularly effective ; whether of a young girl 
resting in a garden on soft cushions under the gilt-coffered ceiling of 
the arcade, peeling a luscious peach as she listens to the plash of the 
fountains and watches the buds swelling on the tall trees, while among 
the smooth, shining leaves of the orange and lemon trees gleamed the 
swelling fruit, — or of a maiden devoted to the worship of Isisw’aiting 
for her Christian lover, — or finally of the magnificent Serapeum, 
never more glorious than when the Christians had resolved on its 
destruction and the cunning priests, with the aid of mirrors, caused a 
ray of the setting sun — a shaft of intense brightness — to fall on the lips 
of the statue of the god as if in derision of his enemies. Of dramatic 
effects there are many intensely dramatic ; more especially the scene 
where Constantine mounts the ladder with his axe to overthrow the god, 
almost as sensitive himself to his own daring as the young agonized 
girl, watching him as if the first blow he should deal to the beautiful 
and unique work of art might wreck her love for him, as his axe 
would wreck the ivory. Even more powerful than this, perhaps, is 
the scene where Theophilus, struggling in vain to persuade even his 
own followers to the destruction of the great image, seizes the cruci- 
fix of his own Lord, and trembling almost at his own audacity, dashes 
it to the ground in fragments, to show that even the symbol of his 
own religion is as nothing compared with the spirit ; falling then 
upon his knees in an ecstasy of remorseful prayer, and gathering up 
the bits of broken ivory to kiss them devoutly. I he book is so full of 
scenes and effects like this, that while quite as instructive in its way 
as the other Egyptian novels, it is more strikingly interesting as a 
story.” — The Critic, N. Y. 

William S. Gottsberger, Publisher^ New York. 


ASP ASIA. — A Romance, by Robert Ilairieriing', from 
the German by Mary J. Safford, in two vols. Paper, $i.oo. 
Cloth, $1.75. 

“ We have read his work conscientiously, and, we confess, with 
profit. Never have we had so clear an insight into the manners, 
thoughts, and feelings of the ancient Greeks. No study has made 
us so familiar with the age of Pericles. We recognize throughout 
that the author is master of the period of which he treats. More- 
over, looking back upon the work from the end to the beginning, 
we clearly perceive in it a complete unity of purpose not at all 
evident during the reading.” 

“ Hamerling’s Aspasia, herself the most beautiful woman in 
all Hellas, is the apostle of beauty and of joyousness, the im- 
placable enemy of all that is stern and harsh in life. Unfortunately, 
morality is stern, and had no place among Aspasia’s doctrines. 
This ugly fact, Landor has thrust as far into the background as 
possible. Hamerling obtrudes it. He does not moralize, he 
neither condemns nor praises ; but like a fate, silent, passionless, 
and resistless, he carries the story along, allows the sunshine for 
a time to silver the turbid stream, the butterflies and gnats to flut- 
ter above it in rainbow tints, and then remorselessly draws over 
the landscape gray twilight. He but follows the course of 
history; yet the absolute pitilessness with which he does it is 
almost terrible.” — Extracts from Review in Yale Literary 
Magazine. 

“No more beautiful chapter can be found in any book of this 
age than that in which Pericles and Aspasia are described as visit- 
ing the poet Sophocles in the garden on the bank of the Cephis- 
sus.” — Utica Morning Herald. 

“ It is one of the great excellencies of this romance, this lofty 
song of the genius of the Greeks, that it is composed with perfect 
artistic symmetry in the treatment of the different parts, and from 
the first word to the last is thoroughly harmonious in tone and 
coloring. Therefore, in ‘Aspasia,’ we are given a book, which 
could only proceed from the union of an artistic nature and a 
thoughtful mind — a book that does not depict fiery passions in 
dramatic conflict, but with dignified composure, leads the conflict 
therein described to the final catastrophe.” — Allgemeine Zeitung. 
(Augsburg). 

William S. Gottsberger, Publisher^ New York. 


William S. Gottsberger' s Publications. 


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